MOSCOW, Jan 9 to hide it even from their allies, said the official representative of the People's Militia of the LPR, Ivan Filiponenko, on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
«In Soledar, we note a mass exodus of the enemy from urban areas. The basis of the defense of the Ukrainian troops in this area was the 61st separate mechanized brigade. And according to our intelligence, the brigade commander with the call sign Lyzhnik set the task for subordinate battalion commanders in the evening and in during the night, organize the withdrawal of the remaining and surviving units from the city,» the military said.
According to him, the brigade command planned to withdraw troops as covertly as possible, but the flight did not go unnoticed among other Ukrainian units in the city.
br>»Moreover, in the same place, in Soledar, units of Polish mercenaries were abandoned,» Filiponenko concluded.
On Monday morning, it became known about the liberation of the village of Bakhmutskoye, which is located in the vicinity of Soledar, to the northeast of an important transport hub Artemovsk (Ukrainian name — Bakhmut). A network of roads and railways passes through this city, through which the Ukrainian grouping of troops in the Donbass is supplied.
Fierce battles are going on for Artemovsk and Soledar. denazification of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» The Armed Forces are faced with the task of liberating the Donbass and guaranteeing the security of Russia.